“Is that enough to kill over?” Mac asked.
“I’ve seen people do it for less,” I said.
Wait! Did I just say that? Am I becoming experienced in the ways of murder? Oh Geesh!
I looked at Mac and Miss Vivee who were looking at me. “I don’t know why I said that. Okay,” I said. I wanted to hurry and get away from that comment. “Miss Vivee.”
“Yes,” she said.
“You’ve got the cause of death, and probably even the means of how it was done-”
“No probably to it,” she interrupted. “Someone knew that Campbell Gruger was drinking a lot of water, and was going to be drinking even more of it when he did his century ride.”
“Right, but we’ll never be able to prove which one of them did it.”
Miss Vivee shook her head. I don’t know why I even said that, she wasn’t going to accept defeat.
“There must be something that someone told me, or something that we found out that would tell us which one of them did it.” She blew air through her lips, then looked at me. “There’s only one thing to do.”
I was scared to ask. So I didn’t.
Mac didn’t have the same will power. “What is that, Vivee?”
“We have to go up to that camp.”
“It’s locked up tight,” I said. “Under police protection.”
“Then we’ll just have to break in,” Miss Vivee said. “I hope I remembered to pack the flashlights.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“We can solve this,” Miss Vivee said. She had gotten up and was heading toward her suitcase. I just knew she was going for the flashlights. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d packed ski masks as well.
“How?” Miss Vivee. “Even if we do find something we wouldn’t know who put it there. Like you said, anyone could have done it.”
“We’ll find a clue,” she said.
“We’ve been up there, Miss Vivee,” I said. “There was nothing to see. No clues.”
“We’ve been up there, true, but there was only nothing to see because we didn’t know what to look for,” Miss Vivee said.
“Oh, so now you know what to look for?” I asked.
“Of course I do,” she said. “We look for something that would’ve upset his electrolyte balance.”
“You’d need a lab to analyze anything you’d find up there. And a fingerprint database to determine who put it there. If there’re any prints to be found.”
“You are such a little Debbie Downer, aren’t you?” She frowned up her face. “Isn’t she, Mac?”
“I think it’s her way of helping, Vivee,” Mac said.
“No one’s up there,” I said moving the conversation in a different direction, one that didn’t include analyzing me. “How are you going to get in?”
“Oh for Pete’s Sake, Logan. How do you lock up a camp?” She rolled her eyes. “You think they put padlocks on the flaps of the tent?”
“I don’t know how they’d lock it up, but either way, it’s illegal to go sneaking into other people’s things.”
“You act as if this is the first time we’ve done this.”
┌┐└┘┌┐└┘┌┐└┘┌┐└┘┌┐└┘
I hadn’t been able to change Miss Vivee’s mind about the breaking and entering. She’d even suggested that the three of us would take bikes up that mountain side. I couldn’t imagine how the two of them would make it. Heck, I wasn’t even sure I could make it.
It had gotten dark out, and I decided, as I always do, to give in and do my part. I found Elenoa and got her to help me secure a golf cart that the resort owned.
Then she surprised me, asking for a favor in return. Elenoa gave me a duffle bag that belonged to Campbell Gruger. She said he’d left it there after he had returned from his century ride. Of course he was never able to come back and get it. “Make sure it gets in with his other things,” she’d said. I told her I would.
She was so nice helping us out, not even asking any questions about why we needed the cart, and trusting me to get the bag back to Sassy. Little did she know, we wanted the vehicle so we could go and find evidence that might possibly turn out to prove she had murdered her lover.
It was quite scary going up that mountain road with no illumination other than the two small round headlights on the golf cart, and a whole lot of jungle sounds. I panicked more than a few times thinking something had jumped out at me. And when we got to the clearing of the camp, it was pitch black as well. If I had to be there with the two of them, I decided it was a good thing that Miss Vivee had packed flashlights.
We made our way over to the tent, and I wondered what alarms we were going to trip trying to get in. I could already hear the sirens in my head on Inspector Walota’s choppers blaring as they swooped down to arrest me and Ma and Pa Barker. But, besides some yellow tape wrapped around two poles outside the tent, there were no other obvious signs of police protection.
The flap of the tent was tied down with a series of knots and it took me more than a minute to undo it, which didn’t sit well with Miss Vivee.
“It’s just a little ‘ole sailor’s knot,” she said. “Why is it taking you so long?” She was shining her flashlight on it.
“For one thing,” I said. “I’m not a sailor.” I turned and looked up at her. “Would you like to do it?”
She flashed the beam in my face. “No,” she said. “Just hurry it up before we get caught and get thrown in jail.”
Oh now she’s worried about that.
We got inside and Miss Vivee wouldn’t let me turn on the light, I knew the power was going because I could hear the small fridge running. She flashed the beam from her light around the room then went over to the shelf.
“Look at all this water,” she said illuminating them with her flashlight. “Enough to irrigate a small country.” Then she picked up one of the cans of protein powder, took it over to Harley Grace’s desk and opened it up.
“Look at this,” she said, and picked up one of the small plastic bag with a zip lock closure. “They’ve been pre-packaged.”
“Probably for convenience,” I said. I came around and stood on the other side of the desk from her and Mac and peeked inside the can with my flashlight. “But I can see that there’s powder residue left in it. Someone must have made the packets after they bought it.”
Miss Vivee nodded. “To add whatever water retentive agent they used.” She shook the package next to her ear.
What did she expect to hear?
I put my light on her and watched. She grunted as if she was indecisive about something then tore open a packet.
“Miss Vivee!” I said rather loudly. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to see what it is.”
“You need to put that back.”
Instead she stuck her nose in the packet. “Doesn’t smell like anything,” she said. Then she wet the tip of her forefinger and stuck it down in there.
“Miss Viv-”
But before I could get a warning out, she pulled her finger out and swiped the powder across her teeth.
Doesn’t she wear dentures?
“Will you stop?” I said, panic in my voice. “This is not television.”
“Stop what?” She took her tongue and ran it across her teeth.
“What does it taste like?” Mac asked.
Oh please, don’t encourage her.
“Boxed cake mix,” she said. “Vanilla.”
Then she stuck her baby finger in and pulled up some of the white powder in her nail. I pounced on her. I knew what she was getting ready to do.
“Miss Vivee!” I said and reaching across the desk, pulled her hand away just as it was going to her nostril. “What the heck?”
“What are you doing, Logan?” She appeared to be upset with me.
“You were going to put that up your nose.”
“I need to see what it is.”
“It’s not cocaine.”
“Well, I know that.”
; “And it might be poison,” I said. “You’ve already put some in your mouth.”
“It might have some of that Ecstasy in it,” she said.
“I thought you don’t take drugs,” I said.
“I don’t, but this is for a criminal investigation. I have to test things to see how they work.”
Oh. My. God.
“Anyway,” she said. “If it is poison, it’s not a fast acting one.” She shook her head like I had a screw loose. “I wouldn’t have dropped dead on the spot. Campbell Gruger had time to get all the way down the mountain and all the way to the shore before he succumbed.”
“Oh my goodness.” I slapped my forehead in disbelief. “So it would have been okay to ingest the poison because you wouldn’t have died until later?”
“I’m not saying that.” She said and picked up the packet.
“Give it here,” I said and held out my hand. “You are not leaving out of here with that in your possession.”
“Oh good, lord,” she said. “You are so dramatic!”
“I think we should go,” I said. “There’s nothing here to see.”
“Well we don’t really know that,” Miss Vivee said. “We may have found something here.” She patted the side of the protein powder can. “We’ll have to have the powder analyzed. Like I said, the catalyst for the water retention might be in it.”
“So, we’ll tell the police. Because we,” I pointed my finger at her, then me, then back at her, and back at me. “Don’t have a lab.”
“Let’s look over here,” Miss Vivee said, showing me she didn’t give a hoot about what I was trying to say. She turned around and trained a beam of light onto a pile of boxes.
“Those are just the boxes the stuff was shipped here in. See.” I put my light on the Amazon logo with the smile. “Amazon dot com just like Harley Grace said.” I kept the beam on the box to make sure she had time to read it. Mac even came over and took a look. He looked over at me and back at the box.
“Where is Amazon located?” he asked.
“Washington State,” I said. “Why?”
“That’s where they ship from?” Mac asked.
I shrugged. “I’m sure they have distribution centers all over,” I said. “I don’t really know.”
“But wouldn’t that be a coincidence,” Mac said.
“What Mac?” Miss Vivee said.
“Meridian in Mississippi.”
“Yes. I know that,” Miss Vivee said. “Why?”
“These boxes were shipped from Mississippi.”
“They could be from the real trainer,” I said. “Maybe the trainer was the killer. Harley Grace did say Campbell Gruger kept getting reminders on his Fitbit. Death by remote control.”
“Oh, maybe Sassy sent them,” Miss Vivee said. “She was the one that committed the murder by remote control.”
“There’s something else I’ve been thinking about,” Mac said.
“Well spill, Mac,” Miss Vivee said.
“She said that Alcott was her maiden name.”
“What are you getting at, Mac?” Miss Vivee said. “My brain is exhausted from trying to figure this out, I don’t have any gray matter left to go on this see-saw ride with you? Spit it out.”
“I read an article about a family in Mississippi, last name Alcott, who have been practicing surgery since the Civil War. Been a surgeon in every generation.”
“So?” Miss Vivee said, seemingly getting a little exasperated with Mac.
“Every family member who’d been a surgeon had been male until recently when a girl took up the family tradition. A girl by the name of Sasha.”
Miss Vivee didn’t say anything for a long minute. She had to be thinking what I was thinking though.
“So you think . . .” Miss Vivee said.
“That Sasha may be a nickname for Sassy?” Mac asked.
“And that Sassy is a doctor?” Miss Vivee asked. Her face was saying she didn’t buy that.
“Sassy knew what hyponatremia meant,” I said.
“What?” Miss Vivee and Mac asked in unison.
“How do you know that?” Miss Vivee said.
“She came over to our table right before Mac did at the lovo. We were waiting for you two. She laughed about you saying it was murder, and then asked had you figured out the murder weapon. I said ‘hyponatremia,’ and she didn’t say a word.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” Miss Vivee asked.
I shrugged. “You came out in a grass skirt and it made me forget about everything else.”
“What else do you know?” Miss Vivee asked, cocking her head and pursing her lips.
“I know that Elenoa gave me a duffle bag that belonged to Campbell Gruger. He’d left in her room the night he got back from his century ride. Which also proves,” I said with a smirk, “that the poison might just be fast acting, he only had left from Elenoa’s room before he succumbed.”
“He gave it to her the night he died?” Miss Vivee said. “After his century run?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
Now I was talking like her.
“The bag that’s in the golf cart?” Mac asked.
“One and the same,” I said.
“When were you going to tell me?” Miss Vivee said.
“Now?” I said and hunched my shoulders. “How about I go and get it?”
“How about you do that, Missy,” Miss Vivee said.
Opening that duffle bag was like opening presents on Christmas morning for Miss Vivee. She was delighted.
“Look-a-here,” she said and pulled out a prescription bottle. “Here Logan, read this. The print is so small. Right there.”
I read where she pointed. “Prescribed by Sasha Alcott.”
Miss Vivee looked at Mac. “She is a doctor.”
He nodded. “What is the prescription for, Logan?” Mac asked.
“Anadrol,” I said.
“Look it up, Logan,” Miss Vivee said.
“On my phone?” I asked.
Hadn’t she just basically called it my crutch?
But no quip from me, I wanted to know what it was, too. I whipped out the phone. “Hey Siri,” I spoke into the phone. “Anadrol.”
“Anadrol (oxymetholone) is a potent anabolic steroid. It is an effective agent for promoting weight gain, increasing appetite, gaining strength and increasing red blood count. And as with most anabolic/androgenic steroids (AAS), it has its downsides as well. Anadrol will inhibit your body’s natural production of hormones (testosterone, etc), will negatively affect your blood lipid profile, can cause water retention, and is notorious for causing headaches.”
“Did you hear that?” I said after Siri finished her little spiel.
“Of course I heard it,” Miss Vivee said. “I’m not deaf.”
“Is there an anti-estrogen pill in that bag?” Mac asked.
I put the prescription bottle back in and rambled through the bag. “I don’t see any other pills in here,” I said. “But here’s his phone.” I pulled it out. “Wow.”
“What?” Miss Vivee said.
“He’s got a flip phone.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means it’s an old phone and probably won’t have a passcode on it?” I said. “We could get in it.”
“Let me see that,” Miss Vivee said.
I handed it to her. I knew even with a flip phone she still wouldn’t be able to figure it out.
She turned it around in her hand, then she shook it.
Why does she shake everything?
“You have to open it,” I said.
“Well how do you open it?” she asked.
I put my hand out, she gave me the phone, I flipped it open, and handed back to her.
She stared at it, then at me. I arched an eyebrow.
“You do it,” she said. “Tell me if it says anything about Sassy killing him.”
I went to the messages, clicked to open the Inbox and said, “You will die today because I have
killed you by water intoxication.” I looked at Miss Vivee.
Her eyes were bucked and her mouth was hanging open.
“Does it really say that?” She held her hands out. “Oh my goodness! Let me see.” She took the phone. “This is all we need.”
I watched her squinting trying to read the message. I saw her lips move as she read the text, then she threw the phone at me.
“It does not say that.”
I broke out laughing as I picked up the phone. I started scrolling through the messages, still giggling.
“I don’t see anything funny,” she said.
“Me either,” I said and tried to curb my giggling. “Oh, but here’s one. This one might work.”
“Don’t read me another word from that thing,” Miss Vivee said.
“No seriously,” I said and walked around the desk to stand next to her. “Look. This one is from ‘Wifey’ and it says ‘Gl/hf on 100m 2day. Don’t forget 2 drink H20. Full gal +.” I looked at her. “This is telling him good luck, and have fun on his century ride that day.”
“She acted she didn’t know when his ride was when she spoke to Harley Grace,” Miss Vivee said.
“And I think ‘gal’ stands for gallon,” I said. “She’s saying for him not to forget to drink a gallon ‘plus’ more of water.” I looked at Miss Vivee. “That would probably be enough to kill him.”
But before Miss Vivee could answer, the overhead light came on, and I looked up to see the FBI standing at the door.
Crap!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The FBI agent standing in the doorway was my guy, but still I felt guilty. He had just warned all three of us to stop trying to investigate the deaths, and here we were behind police barricades doing just that.
“Logan,” Bay said.
Crap!
“Don’t be upset with Logan,” Miss Vivee said. “We had to drag her here kicking and screaming.”
“Yeah, I bet,” Bay said.
“What are ya’ll doing in here?” It was Sassy. She stepped out from behind Bay. Standing at the entryway of the tent, her eyes were wide in surprise.
“I’m guessing they’re looking for clues for the murder my grandmother concocted up,” Bay said.
South Seas Shenanigans Page 12
